Federal Court Bars Alabama Woman from Preparing Tax Returns

WASHINGTON – A federal court in Mobile, Ala., has permanently barred Delois Warren from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. Judge Kristi K. DuBose of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama issued the permanent injunction order.

The government complaint in the case alleged that Warren of Greensboro claimed bogus earned-income tax credits and first-time-homebuyer credits for her customers through her business, Branjalo Tax Service. According to the complaint, Warren prepared income tax returns for some customers falsely claiming that they were engaged in profitable businesses in order to maximize refunds based on the earned-income tax credit. The complaint also states that Warren claimed the first-time-homebuyer credit on at least 190 returns in 2009. In examples cited in the complaint, Warren claimed the credit for as much as $8,000 for customers who did not purchase houses in 2008.

The civil injunction order requires Warren to mail a copy of the order to all persons for whom she has prepared a federal tax return since Jan. 1, 2007, and to give the government a list of those customers.

In the last decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained hundreds of injunctions to stop tax fraud promoters and unscrupulous tax return preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website .